Dangers Facing Christians In The New Middle East

Amine Gemayal, the former president of: Lebanon, warned during a recent speech that Christians in the: Middle East: face an “existential crisis,” due to the “dangerous phenomenon of religious cleansing.”: : He said “Christians are often victims of persecution by both the state and society in the: Middle East.”: Gemayal delivered a speech, entitled, “The Future of Religious Minorities in the: Middle East,” at St.Antony’s: College in: Oxford.

: Many religious leaders, including: Jay Sekulow: and: David Cerullo: have spoken out about the dangers facing religions other than Islam in the Middle East during the so-called Arab spring.:

Gemayal warned that “the disappearance of Christianity from the Arab World would be a tremendous blow to the region and Muslims themselves,” dimming the prospects for long-term peace and threatening the region’s religiously-plural society: — a society, as Gemayel stressed, that is indigenous to the region and preceded the arrival of Islam. “A better future for all depends on respecting pluralism,” he said. Noting the lack of involvement from the international community in this crisis, Gemayal decried an “international conspiracy of silence to keep these issues aside.” “How can they remain silent in the face of these issues?” he asked.:

Gemayal called for an international response to the current crises in the: Middle East. “The international community can and must assist in the process of transitioning to democracy in the Arab world,” he said, especially in “critical areas such as democracy and human rights.” Gemayal also called on the international community to “impose economic sanctions and further measures on governments that deviate from these values.”: : : Gemayal also called for improving education systems in the region to emphasize “tolerance, togetherness and partnership,” and for creating “a civic society” in the region “that can manage and overcome the crisis of pluralism.”: